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03/25/2018 12:00 AMJoining with more than 800 other demonstrations happening across the country, more than 2,000 shoreline residents peacefully came together in Guilford on March 24 to participate in a local March for Our Lives, a movement calling for sensible gun legislation across the nation.
The event, organized by Guilford resident Frank Blackwell, included a march and speeches by politicians, local advocacy groups, and numerous high school and middle school students who are leading the movement in their respective communities. In addition, groups like the League of Women Voters were on hand to help people register to vote.
The Morgan School Senior Ella Franzoni said that, while she is only 17 years old, in her lifetime there have been 194 school shootings across the country.
“I heard on the news that we are the mass shooting generation,” she said. “That is not what I want to be known for. I want to be known as the generation that will cure cancer, that will save our environment, that will create a more ethical and fair world, but we can accomplish none of this if we continue to be gunned down in our classrooms.”
Adams Middle School student Julia Schroers said the rate of school shootings in America is unacceptable and she can’t stand listening to adults make plans to arm teachers and not engage in conversations around why such a young person had access to such a dangerous weapon.
“This is not safety,” she said. “This is accepting that school shootings are a way of life in the United States, but I refuse to believe that this is the best that America can do. I refuse to believe that the government values gun owner’s rights over my right to safely learn. My teachers are not trained to be sharpshooters and I refuse to believe that they should have to be. The future of this country lies in the hands of its future voters and we will not stop until there is a policy change.”
While the march and many of the speeches focused on school shootings, in light of the recent death of 15-year-old Guilford High School (GHS) student Ethan Song, who was killed in a gun-related accident in late January, there was also a broader conversation about all forms of gun violence.
GHS students James Hyman and Olivia Clarke spoke about Ethan and how the death of a friend and community member brought home the harsh reality that losing a friend to gun violence is always a possibility.
“Guns are a national epidemic and there is no sole reason for these travesties,” said Hyman. “Mental health is a factor in gun violence, but the weapons themselves play the leading role. We therefore need to tackle both of these issues simultaneously. No one wants to see another mass shooting; no one wants to see one more death due to gun violence. We need to continue to come together as a community and make every stride we can.”
The Song family was in attendance at the event. Ethan’s father, Mike Song, thanked the community for its support over the last few months.
Politicians and Legislation
While the event was heavily student focused, numerous politicians attended the march including U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D), State Representative Sean Scanlon (D-98), State Senator Ted Kennedy, Jr. (D-12), State Representative Lonnie Reed (D-102), and State Representative Noreen Kokoruda (R-101).
Murphy said it was important to him to be in Connecticut for a march and support the students participating in this movement.
“I am incredibly proud of how kids have stepped up in Connecticut and I wanted to be here to support their efforts,” he said. “Connecticut is a model for what happens when you pass strong gun laws. We have reduced gun crimes in this state by 40 percent because we’ve passed strong laws. We have a gun violence rate that is 400 percent lower than Florida, so I wanted to be here to support the kids who are organizing and also to make the point that Connecticut has gotten it right and if the country follows Connecticut’s lead we will all be safer.”
Murphy has advocated for gun control, particularly in the wake of Sandy Hook, but said he keeps fighting for this not just to bring an end to school shootings, but to see a day when kids in tough neighborhoods don’t have to worry about being shot on their way to the store, and a day when no parents have to have their kid come home from school, describe their first active shooter drill, and then have them say, “Daddy, I didn’t like it”—an experience Murphy said he recently went through with his six-year-old son.
Despite the challenges, Murphy said seeing so many people stand up across the country to speak out has given him hope.
“Today is a day when my job gets easier because you have made this commitment. Many you have already made it and maybe some of you are making this commitment for the first time today—to demand that enough is enough,” he said. “But then go to the polls to make sure that if we don’t get the job done now, we have a Congress that will get the job done next January.”
Since Sandy Hook, Reed said Connecticut stepped up and state legislators reached across the aisle to come together for sensible gun laws. She said that effort continues today as the legislature is sent to take up debates on bills concerning bump stocks and ghost guns.
Scanlon said the answer to gun violence is common sense gun laws and he promises to stand with young people as they fight this issue. Scanlon said he recently sat down with student organizers of the GHS walkout and the conversation was haunting.
“I will never forget this for as long as I live,” he said. “The first person who spoke after I explained what was going on in Hartford was a sophomore at GHS and she looked at me directly in the eye and said, ‘Representative, I am afraid that when I go to school I am going to get shot.’ We live in the greatest country on earth, but it’s a disgrace that someone who is 16 years old has to worry about getting shot when they go to their public school that they are entitled to go to in this country.”
Kennedy said he had never been more proud to be a member of the shoreline community as he was that day, standing before a crowd ready to fight for change on an issue that has had a profound effect on his life and his family.
“My family has been impacted by gun violence in a very public way,” he said. “Two of my uncles were murdered in broad daylight, in front of television cameras, and today members of my family have to turn on their TVs and have to relive those moments and I understand when families who have been impacted by the violence at Sandy Hook have to relive those same moments again and again and again. When it happens in schools around the country, it’s a wound that will never heal. It will never heal unless we the people stand up and demand common sense gun reform.”
Kennedy said that, while change won’t come easy and gun advocacy groups like the NRA are well funded, this time he thinks the odds favor change.
“Last year the NRA spent $38 million in political campaign contributions, but you know what, we have something even more powerful,” he said. “We’ve got all of us here and in 800 locations around the country with people standing up to say enough is enough and that is more powerful than all of the money in the world.”